Welcome to first this, a short mindfulness practice and message for anyone.

I'm Catherine Nikolai, and hey, thanks for sitting with me today.

Please get comfortable. Please let your shoulders drop, your jaw loosen, the muscles around your eyes relax.

We've got this time carved out to just take gentle care of you.

So go on and let your guard down.

Take a deep breath in

and sigh it out.

One more time, fill up.

Out through the mouth. Good.

The first step is always just to go inside and notice.

Notice how your physical body feels.

The subtle movements of your breath.

The touch of your breath, the touch of your clothes we do this. We're reclaiming that skill from numbness.

So just notice for the next minute or so.

And if you wander, notice that too. That's a thing that's happening. And go inside again. Thank you. Thank you. I sometimes think of this,

I sometimes think of this like a bit of archaeology.

Each time we sit, we're pulling up a small corner of ourselves,

and breath by breath, brushing away the topsoil.

And what's under there?

Well, we don't know.

But as archaeologists, our job is just to be curious and open,

to see what comes, whether it's... is just to be curious and open,

...